I've been meaning to post for weeks about my honeybees. They bring me such joy. Every morning I can look out the kitchen window at my hive and see them already busy at work, darting out to find nectar. It literally brings a smile to my face every time I see them. So it brings me such sadness to discover I have to get rid of them. First, the back story.
Bee hives function just like any other species. Their goal is reproductive success. As more and more bees grow and hatch and the hive gets crowded, the bees will decide it's time to break off from the group so they grab their queen and fly off to find another new hive spot. This is called a swarm. Beekeepers don't want this because it means they lose their beloved bees. To prevent swarming you must ensure your bees have enough room, and watch them often for signs of swarming. The sign you're watching for is the building of a queen cell. When bees plan to swarm they try to grow a new queen to take with them, as every hive needs a queen. Queen cells (where they grow) look very different from regular bee cells. See it hanging off the honey frame below?
Some of my keener bees built double-queen cells.
All in all I found 17 queen cells growing in my one hive. Many beekeepers would just kill those queens, as it's far too many and a swarm is surely imminent. But this softie couldn't do that, so the other option is to form new hives before the bees get a chance to do it themselves. These are called nucs, little starter hives. You take some frames with a queen cell or two on them, some of the bees and you build little shoebox sized hives to put them in. The bees feel like they've now swarmed as they are in a new space that is less crowded. I built 4 nucs and divided my queen cells up among them.
The next step is to check them often to see if a queen has hatched. Once she does she'll sting the remaining unhatched queen cells so they never hatch. It is survival of the fittest in there for sure! It is hard to see the queen in this shot but I have faith in you. She is dead centre at the bottom of the frame, to the right of those big empty holes in the beeswax. All the nearby bees are facing her, surrounding her. She is slightly bigger and longer than the other bees, and her back has no stripes on it, but is instead a warm chestnut brown colour. Do you see her?
Those sealed golden places above her house growing baby bees. When they are ready to hatch they'll chew their way out of their little spot. For 20 days they'll live inside the hive as nurse bees, tending the other baby bees that have yet to hatch, and then they'll spend 20 more days as forager bees, flying up to 3KM to find delicious nectar in the flowering trees and bushes in my neighbourhood. Then they die. Our yard is littered regularly with deceased little bees. Such hardworking gals indeed. And yes, they are ALL females. Much to my dismay Hollywood's ability to spread false information is still very successful, so not only do folks believe the hardest working bees are of course men, they also believe bees have only 4 legs. Sigh. Hollywood just keeps messing kids up, huh?
Anyway, my hive was doing great, my nucs were doing great, I was so excited to expand my little honeybee family. I'd have 5 hives by the end of summer, all buzzing happily in the garden.
Then I was stung a few weeks ago. I have been stung before, and while it is definitely painful, I didn't think it was a big deal. I was stung last year and my cheek swelled like I'd been to the dentist. No big deal, right? Then I was stung in April of this year and my leg swelled up so much I couldn't fit into my jeans. Wow, that's kinda crazy huh? It itched and hurt, but all stings do right? So I ignored it as best as I could. When I was stung on my hand a few weeks ago it swelled. A lot. And it spread up my arm to my elbow. It itched like MAD constantly, and only stopped hurting if I held my arm up over my head. This lasted for 5 days! Is this normal?
Nope, turns out it's not. Normal is what happens to Kit when he got stung last month. Nothing happened. It hurt, he itched it once, and life went on. My friend, who is a nurse, confirmed that my reaction is definitely not normal, and since it's getting worse each time, it's dangerous. My neck or scalp cannot afford to swell that much! Keeping my bees any longer just increases my chances of getting stung again.
So I've put my lovely bees up for sale, and a beekeeper from the Gulf Islands is coming next week to take them all away. I'll miss seeing them in the sunlight every morning, and the yard will be so quiet without the quiet hum of their busy work. I really loved the gift of having bees in my life, but I have to accept my new reality. Bummer huh?
xoxo
C
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